For Mr. Lee Barrett

[Oded]

No, that was not Sonm who wrote the 'drowning' post. That was me (?) after having consumed an unhealthy amount of Ukrainian vodka and listened to almost the entire Hawkwind back catalogue.
:zombie:

Anyway, a few questions:
How does running Elitist compare to Candlelight?
Can you make a living at this?
Any recent signings to the label, or are you concentrating on the current crop?
Any plans to get some of the bands over to the U.S. for shows?
(don't forget, they can always play the metalfests if a full tour isn't feasible!)

Cheers for your time.
Oded

 

[Lee_B]

No, that was not Sonm who wrote the 'drowning' post. That was me (?) after having consumed an unhealthy amount of Ukrainian vodka and listened to almost the entire Hawkwind back catalogue.
:zombie:

I'm not sure what's worse! The vodka or the Hawkwind!

Anyway, a few questions:
How does running Elitist compare to Candlelight?

Much better. It's not my own money I'm spending (a good thing) and I don't have to worry about the business side of things too much (not that I ever did, but hey... ). There's also huge improvements in terms of distribution and promotion for the bands I sign. So far I have few complaints.

Can you make a living at this?

Not even close! I have a day job as a computer techie, working for a large multinational computer organisation that sounds a bit like Eye Bee Hem... I don't get a salary from Elitist, it's on a royalty basis the same as the bands. So if the bands don't sell well, I don't get anything either.

Any recent signings to the label, or are you concentrating on the current crop?

I'm happy with what I have at the moment, but I may be tempted again in the very near future. We'll have to see what can be arranged.

Any plans to get some of the bands over to the U.S. for shows?
(don't forget, they can always play the metalfests if a full tour isn't feasible!)

The US office is always looking at avenues for bringing bands to the US. So far it had only been Without Face who had shown a desire to tour, and they've been very busy in Europe, etc. But now pretty much all the bands (besides Rakoth I think) have shown some sort of commitment to playing live shows. Ephel Duath and Wolverine are both itching to get some touring going on, and Lunaris will be playing their arses off in support of the next album.

Cheers for the interest.

Lee

 

[Downfall]

While we're at it, I've been wondering what is the standard publishing-procedure of Earache. By this I mean that does the label automatically release all their albums all over the world or do they decide on every specific album where they are going to release it and where they don't?

 

[Lee_B]

The albums will recieve separate releases in Europe and the US (the US is usually a couple of months behind time-wise). There is also a domestic Russian release via Soyuz.

Albums are offered for licence in Japan but this is becoming increasingly difficult to achieve for a multitude of reasons. Other territories are sold directly through distributors and that covers pretty much the entire world.

 

[Downfall]

thanks for the info!

 

[Rusty]

My turn.

Both the Forest Stream and the Ephel Duath booklets (the only two Elitist CDs I have) don't have lyrics in them - is that the bands' choice, or is it an Elitist thing - and if so, why??

 

[Lee_B]

The artwork is left entirely to the bands. We just supply them the printing specs and they can do what they want.

I think there may be some Forest Stream lyrics on their website? Never seen any Ephel lyrics for Rephormula before, but I think there is some on the new album.

Cheers

Lee

 

[ColdDarkNord]

Yes, we want to put all lyric from trilogy in the booklet of 3rd CD. Btw u can find lyrics from ToMS on www.foreststream.net or on Dark Lyrics.

 

[Rusty]

Thanks to both of you.